L.A. scrambling to bring back film crews

Facing a sharp decline in the shooting of big-budget productions in Los Angeles, city officials are considering hiring a "film czar" to promote their interests with the multibillion-dollar entertainment industry.

Just three major films - those with budgets more than $75 million - are scheduled to be shot in L.A. this year, city officials said.

By comparison, more than 100 major films were shot in L.A. in 2007, and 22 in 2008.

City Council President Eric Garcetti said the liaison would be an advocate for Los Angeles.

"We need to have one person here who the industry can go to and who can tell us what we need to do," Garcetti said.

Paul Audley, who coordinates film permits as president of Film L.A., said Los Angeles simply can't compete with out-of-state locales luring away production with tax breaks, free services and other incentives. Exacerbating the problem is hostility from residents who don't want film companies disrupting their neighborhoods.

"This is a mobile industry," Audley said. "They can pick up and film anywhere they want."

California lawmakers, too, have recognized the problem. The state budget adopted last week includes a program that will provide $100 million in incentives annually for the next five years to the film industry in the Golden State.

Given the current economic climate, the loss of entertainment revenue and jobs is especially harmful to Los Angeles. The city's Economic Development Corp. estimates more than 117,000 jobs are connected to the industry, which generates $38 billion annually for the region.

Told that production companies complain about a weekend ban on filming in city parks, Councilman Tom LaBonge said he will schedule a special meeting of the council's Arts, Parks, Health and Aging Committee to consider developing a new policy.

Garcetti said several other issues should be explored, such as reducing the business tax for filmmakers and dealing with neighborhood complaints.

Audley said Film L.A. is developing a program to explain to residents the importance of the industry to the city and also is working with the industry to be more respectful of community concerns.

In recent years, other states have become increasingly aggressive about luring film and TV work away from Los Angeles.

Michigan last year approved a lucrative package of incentives that includes cash refunds of 40 percent or more to studios that spend more than $50,000 on production in the state. Since then, the Michigan Film Office has approved incentives for 73 productions, compared to three in 2007.

Elizabeth Kaltman, spokeswoman for the Motion Picture Association of America, said incentives offered by other states have hurt Los Angeles.

"States like New York, Michigan and New Mexico offer incentives that are very important to producers," Kaufman said. "We are hopeful that what the state Legislature adopted will help encourage producers to remain in the state."

LaBonge said the days when Los Angeles could sit back and count on productions staying in the backyard of the studios are gone.

"There was time when they said, a rock is a rock, a tree is a tree, shoot it in Griffith Park," La Bonge said. "That's not the case anymore."